No Caffeine
by koolkels
Summary: What happens when a high-ranking Naval computer technician is found dead and Gibbs wants results faster than humanly possible?


A/N -- Don't own any of the characters contained herein. I just play with them and make them do my evil bidding. First NCIS fic ever, first fic in general in many years. Hopefully I'll get back into writing. : ) Please review! I like improving, and I can't do that without reviews.

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Tony walked out of the elevator, Caf-Pow in hand, and headed towards Abby's lab. NCIS's brilliant forensic scientist had essentially abducted McGee when the team had returned with the evidence from their newest case and the two had been locked down here for hours now. Apparently working a case involving a high-ranking Naval computer technician was harder than other cases. Tony shrugged and proceeded through the door.

When he had cleared the doorway, Tony noticed the copious lack of Abby in the lab. Not only was Abby herself absent, but her music was also notably (and mercifully, Tony thought) missing. Tony walked over to McGee, who was staring at a senseless string of numbers on Abby's computer, and who had apparently not realized that he was no longer alone as he was muttering to himself.

"McGeek, sit rep." Tony smiled as McGee jumped in his seat and turned to look at the source of his disturbance.

"What?" he asked.

"Situation report, McGee. Boss needs it," Tony answered.

"Oh, um," McGee sighed. "We're working on it, Tony. This guy was well-trained, it's going to take a while."

"We? It looks like you're going at this alone. Where is the Mistress of the Mass Spec?"

"She went to get some evidence from Ducky." McGee replied. "Apparently Palmer called in sick today so Abby has to do the running." At this point, McGee realized that Tony had a Caf-Pow in his hand, and reached to take it, hoping Tony would leave so he could get back to work.

"What are you reaching for, McGrabby? This is for Abby, not you." Tony teased.

"I understand that, Tony, I was going to leave it for her. Now if I could please get back to work…" McGee trailed off, looking at Tony, who finally sighed and handed McGee the Caf-Pow.

"Fine, McGee. Whatever amount of time you need to finish this, you have half of it." With that, Tony turned around and strode out of the lab to report to Gibbs.

McGee shook his head, then turned back to the computer and continued to work in his blessed silence for another five minutes before he finally figured out the code and broke through the encryption. "Yes!" he said to himself as he leaned back in the chair, ready to congratulate himself on a job well done. Just before he reached a fully reclined position, however, McGee realized that the encryption he had broken through was only the first layer. There was now a second, presumably harder, code scrolling across the screen in front of him. He sighed, dejected, and leaned forward once more to begin working on the second layer of encryption.

Considering the number of hours he had already spent on cracking this code, and the fact that it had always helped Abby, McGee decided to have a sip of her Caf-Pow before jumping into the code. Unfortunately for him, Abby chose this moment to re-enter her lab.

"Timmy!" Abby exclaimed, shocked. "No caffeine without results! Caf-Pows are a reward for a job well done, not just some beverage to be enjoyed at your leisure!"

"Abs, I got results. Just not enough results to make Gibbs anywhere near happy. I broke the code, but it turns out that there's more than one layer here." McGee explained. "Looks like neither of us is going to be getting very much sleep tonight, if any."

"Cheer up, Timmy! You'll get your beauty rest. I just have to run one tiny little test to prove it." Abby smiled at McGee as she pushed him out of her seat in front of the computer.

"Prove what, Abs? What test?" McGee looked the very picture of confusion as he could not for the life of him figure out what Abby could have learned from Ducky that would provide them a reason for not needing to break into the officer's computer.

"Patience, Tim. Just a minute. In the meantime, how about you explain to me how you got a Caf-Pow? I didn't think I was with Ducky that long." Abby said.

McGee shrugged offhandedly and gestured vaguely towards the elevator, "Tony brought it down. It's for you, but I figured since I wouldn't be sleeping I could use the caffeine."

"Ah. Stealing my Caf-Pow. I'll have to beat you later. But right now…" Abby trailed off as she turned to point at her computer at the precise moment it dinged the completion of its mysterious test. "Aha! Like Ducky said. It was a suicide, McGee. No case, no breaking the encryption. Go home and get some sleep now. You look awful." She smiled at her conclusion. While McGee couldn't bring himself to be happy about the fact that a Naval officer had killed himself, he had to admit that he was relieved that he never even had to find out how many layers of encryption were on the computer, let alone try to break them.

"Thanks, Abs, you're the best," McGee gushed. He had just begun to stride happily from Abby's lab to report to Gibbs and then head home when he was frozen in place by a very angry call from behind him.

"McGEE!" Abby yelled. She waited, arms crossed, while McGee turned slowly to face her. "My Caf-Pow?"

McGee looked at his hand and realized that he was, indeed, still holding Abby's Caf-Pow from when she interrupted him drinking it. "Sorry, Abs! I didn't mean to take it, I swear. I was just holding it, and I forgot I had it, and… here," McGee concluded abruptly as he handed the drink back to Abby. Once he was sure it was safely in her grasp and he wasn't going to send its contents crashing to the lab floor, McGee turned and bolted for the door, aware of exactly how close he had just come to being murdered with no forensic evidence left behind.


End file.
